RAGFEST 2010: STILL SYNCOPATING

By Fred Hoeptner

Enlivening downtown Fullerton the weekend of October 16 and 17, the eleventh annual RagFest attracted an enthusiastic throng of devotees to revel in the musical pleasures of the ragtime era. Sponsored by the Friends of Jazz and organized by host Eric Marchese, RagFest is a fundraiser for the non-profit, whose goals include preserving and generating local support for ragtime music and fostering an interest in it among music students and young musicians.

This year’s program featured 16 individual performers and three musical groups presented at two sites in the downtown district. Venues were the convivial Steamers Jazz Club (headquarters), and the comfortable, intimate Max Bloom’s Café Noir two blocks north. Several unfortunate circumstances conspired to reduce the breadth of the festival from previous years. A retrenchment necessitated by the economic recession eliminated the dance venue and ragtime orchestra and precluded the acquisition of a prominent headliner, although local boogie, blues, and barrelhouse pianist Carl Sonny Leyland filled that niche on Sunday. The unfortunate illness of the proprietor of Mo’s Music, the planned site of the Saturday night variety show, forced its cancellation. However, the Saturday and Sunday afternoon programs were extended several hours to compensate for the loss.

Saturday

Promptly at 11:00 a.m. Nan Bostick opened festivities at Steamers with the announcement, “In the ragtime era they always used to start shows with an entrance march. So, here it is, ‘Margery.’” With that she began her one-woman show “From Ragtime to Swing Time.” Nan, biographer of her great uncle Charles N. Daniels (whom she calls her “Uncle Charlie”), explained how “Margery” came about. A teenage Daniels, whose father had just lost his job, was motivated to enter it in a contest sponsored by music publisher Carl Hoffman for the prize of $25. He won, thereby starting his career in the music business. “Hiawatha,” his next roaring success, started the craze for “Indian intermezzos,” although its inspiration was really a town in Kansas. Nan followed Daniels’ sojourns as a composer and publisher to Detroit, back to Kansas City, and finally to San Francisco. She explained how accommodation of the animal dances that became all the rage changed the face of ragtime with introduction of “dotted eighth and sixteenth” (swing) rhythms. She demonstrated many of the popular hits that Daniels published, including “My Ragtime Baby” (Fred Stone), “Pearl of the Harem” (Harry P. Guy), “Peaceful Henry” (E. Harry Kelly), “Meadowlark Rag” (Thomas Pitts), and “Whoa! Nellie” (George Gould). She capped her show with “Chloe (Song of the Swamps)” and a medley of Daniels hits including “You Tell Me Your Dream,” “Nadja,” “Moonlight and Roses,” and “Sweet and Lovely.”

Eric Marchese mounted the stage, officially welcomed festivalgoers to the eleventh annual RagFest, and introduced talented teen Vincent Johnson, whose passion is the style that succeeded ragtime known as novelty piano. Vincent’s performance exuded confidence with pieces by Zez Confrey (“Coaxing the Piano,” “My Pet,” “Greenwich Witch”), Billy Mayerl (“Marigold”), Lothar Perl (“Hollywood Stars”), Ralph Rainger (“Pianogram”), and Arthur Schutt (“Piano Puzzle”). Also a composer, Vincent included two of his own in his program.

Remarking on the beauty that had flowed from Joseph Lamb’s pen, classically trained pianist Shirley Case essayed his bird call rags—“Ragtime Bobolink,” “Bird Brain Rag,” and “Ragtime Nightingale.” She demonstrated her theory that Lamb, who never had formal piano training, must have heard his sister practicing Chopin’s “Revolutionary Etude” and emulated the bass figure in “Nightingale.” Then she switched “from birds to critters” with “Cottontail Rag.” “American Beauty” followed, elaborated on the repeats with runs and other prudent adornments. Shirley invited Nan back up to duet on “X-N-Tric Rag” by Louise V. Gustin using a digital piano that had been set up onstage.

Then I headed for Max Bloom’s Café Noir, where six-string wizard Phil Cannon was playing classic rags on his amplified guitar finger style. I caught “Pine Apple Rag,” “Bethena,” and “Euphonic Sounds” arranged with all the harmonic nuances of the original piano scores. Andrew Barrett on piano then joined Phil for “Champagne Rag,” with the guitar taking the lead. Andrew announced that he would be playing rags from 1910 exclusively. He launched into some neglected obscurities including “Chatterbox Rag” (Botsford); a ragtime song “Honkatonk Rag” (Charles N. Daniels as L’Albert); “That Chinese Rag” (Steadman), which he called “the strangest rag that I’ve ever heard”; and “Irresistible Rag” (Polla).

Next up was the motley crew of Valley Ragtime Stompers with an hour-long session perhaps describable oxymoronically as orderly chaos. Enhanced by the beautiful trained voices of Rosalie Wendt and Julie Burnett, and by instrumentalists Randy Johnson, melodica and steamboat whistle; Phil Cannon, banjo; Gary Coleman, electric bass; Robert Thomas, accordion; Robbie Gennet, piano; and others on assorted rhythm instruments; the stompers belted out popular tunes of the teens and twenties such as “Ain’t She Sweet” and “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee.”

Meanwhile back at Steamers the Albany Nightboat Ragtimers, led by Frank Sano, washboard, with Bill Mitchell, piano, Hal Groody, banjo, and Art Levin, tuba (or maybe helicon), were performing an hour-long set of pop tunes of the teens and 1920s. I caught the second half hour for “All of Me,” “Dinah,” “Grizzly Bear Rag” vocalized by Art, “Mandy,” and “Hindustan.” Alternating leads by piano, banjo and sometimes tuba added variety to the program.

Displaying her remarkable operatically trained voice, a bit of whistling, and winning expressions and gestures, Erika Miller, in stylish vintage black feathered chapeau and filmy black dress and accompanied by Eric on piano, transfixed the audience with a set of songs from the teens. Starting with the 1913 vaudeville tune, “Everything Is Ragtime Now,” she followed with the waltz ballad “Meet Me To-Night in Dreamland” and the torch song “Some of These Days.” The dance craze of 1910 was the grizzly bear which Irving Berlin memorialized with “Everybody’s Doing It Now”; the audience enthusiastically complied with her invitation to echo “Doin’ It, Doin’ It.” Erika’s final selection was the 1910 song version of George Botsford’s “Grizzly Bear Rag,” with lyrics by Irving Berlin.

Next up, Brad Kay and “Those Syncopating Songboids” (Brad’s vernacularism) revived vaudeville with a winning hour-long show, this one featuring “The Unheard George M. Cohan.” Brad explained how show business had erupted in the 1890s, and how Cohan was right in the middle of it, composing some 500 songs, many of which have remained in obscurity. Brad, on piano, accompanied by Tom Marion, banjo and guitar and Oliver Steinberg, bass, accompanied the “’boids,” performing thirteen Cohan classics. James Parten, “Chuckles” Gardner and chorus opened with “The American Ragtime” (1908), in which Cohan praises American ragtime as the counter to pompous “grand opera scores.” Other selections included the charming “Billie” sung by Mikal Sandoval and exemplifying Cohan’s love of beautiful girls; the eccentric “Indians and Trees” in which the piano and bass played tom-tom style supported Brad’s vocal; “That Haunting Melody” sung by Indira with joyful syncopation; and Tom Marion’s ragtime banjo solo “The Popularity Two-Step.” Cohan’s philosophical bent was displayed with “Life’s a Funny Proposition after All” sung by Brad with Andrew Barrett filling in at the piano. The pristine soprano voice of Sharon Evans sparkled with “Mary’s a Grand Old Name” joined by the male trio for the final chorus. Other participants were Marea Boylan and Rick Rogers. Parten, Gardner, and the full ensemble joined for “Always Leave Them Laughing When You Say Goodbye” interspersed with vintage jokes to cap another memorable show by the “boids.”

Next up was Andrew Barrett, who continued his program of obscurities from 1910 with “Black Beauty” by Jean Schwartz, a waltz “Lily Eyes” by Charlotte Blake, and several others.

The vaudeville duo of Sharon Evans and Rick Rogers followed, singing a full set of vintage songs accompanied by Rogers’ banjo-uke. Their program included “For Me and My Gal,” “Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Over Night,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” and others. Sharon donned her cowboy hat and twirled her lasso for “Cheyenne” (“Shy Ann”). They closed an enjoyable set with an original song in the nostalgic mold, “Standing Beside a Rainbow.”

The Valley Ragtime Stompers filled the final set of the day with a set of seven pop tunes from the teens and twenties. These included “After You’ve Gone,” started a-cappella by thrush Julie Burnett, who was soon joined by Phil Cannon on banjo, Robbie Gennet on piano, and Robert Wendt on tin whistle. A George M. Cohan medley of “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” “Yankee Doodle Boy,” and “Over There” ended the set.

Sunday

I started Sunday performing rags to no one except myself at the scheduled noon open piano session at Max Bloom’s. Then I hurried to Steamers for Eric Marchese’s opening set. He featured some seldom played but very attractive rags including “Car-Barlick Acid” (Wiley), “Spring-Time Rag” (Pratt), “Blue Moon” (Kortlander and Roberts), and “The Midnight Trot” (G.L. Cobb). He finished with his own composition “Winnin’ Time,” a musical tribute to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Epitomizing the stomp pianist, Pat Aranda brought along two assistants in the persons of youthful Chloe Feoranzo on clarinet and C.J. Sams on sousaphone to display their considerable talents and create a marvelous trad jazz sound. Pat’s set opened with “Runnin’ Wild” and “Old Fashioned Love.” Explaining that he couldn’t play it at Disneyland where he is a regular pianist, Pat sang “My Little Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle” from 1920. Then it was swing time, and Chloe shone on “If I Had You.” Pat performed “King Porter Stomp” as a piano solo with sousaphone accompaniment. This was followed by “Makin’ Whoopee,” “My Canary’s Got Circles under His Eyes,” and “Sheik of Araby,” the last a vocal by C.J. Sams. Aranda stomped out “Original Rags,” C.J. sang “Lullaby in Ragtime,” and the trio closed with “Some of These Days.”

Back at Max Bloom’s, Andrew Barrett and Doug Haise were entertaining with ragtime obscurities that surely deserve greater exposure. Haise’s set included “Tennessee Rag” (McDade and Watterson), “Toddle Top Rag” (Arthur Morse), and “That Texas Rag” (Watson). Andrew offered several numbers from 1910, including George L. Cobb’s “Aggravation Rag,” “The Georgia Rag” by Albert Gumble, and Irene Cozad’s “Affinity Rag” among others.

Entering for her set, Nan Bostick invited Andrew to accompany her on the drums. Andrew’s inventive licks – for example, his use of tom-tom sticks on the snare drum for “Borneo” and for “Silver Heels” – added verve to Nan’s sound. The score of “Cotton Time” calls for a “sand shuffle” which Andrew also supplied with the drumsticks.

Back at Steamers, folks were gathering for the preliminaries leading up to the festival finale. Doug Haise opened with some classic rags by Lamb (“Ragtime Nightingale” and “Bird Brain”) and Joplin (the sentimental “Solace”).

Erika C. Miller returned to the stage, this time sporting a vintage feathered and flowered chapeau and elegant rose gown, and aptly displaying her ability to sell a song by emoting in a set featuring pieces published in 1910. She showed her whimsical side with Irving Berlin’s “If That’s Your Idea of a Wonderful Time (Take Me Home).” Other selections were the song version of “Pine Apple Rag,” “My Baby’s Arms,” “Some of These Days,” “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” and “The Grizzly Bear,” the last with lyrics by Irving Berlin.

Andrew Barrett followed with another set of obscure but deserving rags from 1910 including “Wedding Bell Rag” (interpolating “The Wedding March”) and “Riverside Rag,” the last with accompaniment on drum, cymbal, and woodblock by Durand Stewart. He invited Vincent Johnson up for a duet on the spirited strider “Hot Hands” followed by a song by Louis Muir, “Play that Barber Shop Chord.”

Headliner Carl Sonny Leyland, nationally recognized for his boogie virtuosity, mounted the stage and demonstrated that his proficiency also ranged to pop tunes, vocals, and ragtime, albeit with occasional interjections of boogie. His offerings included “Oh, What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” “Jimtown Blues,” and “Bag O’ Rags.” Pat Aranda then took over with assistance from Stewart on drums, to contribute two Jelly Roll Morton compositions, “Frog-I-More Rag” and “Mama Nita,” and two originals, “Sunday Evening at the Foxes” and “The Russian Dragon,” the second interpolating themes from “March Slav” and the “1812 Overture.” Aranda and Leyland then joined forces for a set of 1920s standards: “Old Fashioned Love,” “Limehouse Blues,” “Sugar,” and “My Gal Sal.”

Carl assumed the piano, Pat the sousaphone, Vincent the washboard, Nan a set of spoons, and Andrew and Eric the keyboard for the spirited finale, a medley of “Original Rags,” “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “Maple Leaf Rag.” Afterward Nan thanked Eric for producing a wonderful festival. I hope to see you all at RagFest 2011.